The Whisky Shop in San Francisco

snipped-for-privacy@strangelove.net

I'll be in SF this July - where's the store located?

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I was out in SF again about a month ago, and found the Whisky Shop thoroughly disappointing. They had a sign outside claiming 500+ single malts, but had well under 200 when I visited, including nothing out of the ordinary. The single clerk didn't know much. I saw it as a rip-off tourist store.

For my money, both D&M at 2200 Fillmore St. (Sacramento) and Cannery Wine have much better selections and people who actually know whisky. Cannery even offers tasting of various interesting bottlings. They're worth the short cab ride from the Union Square area.

-- Larry

I agree with Larry, that D&M has a much better selection and staff. Additionally, they have a nice selection of fine spirits and wines. They are especially well known for their champagne selection as well.

I was under the impression that The Whisky Shop in S.F. was no more after the sale of the chain ?

If I get a chance to go to Sacramento I'll keep D&M in mind. The other place he mentioned sounds absolutely fascinating. Cannery Wine apparently has a huge selection of liqueurs, so I must go there. I bake and cook and often will use liqueurs for frostings or in custards. I don't mention these as part of my liquor cabinet since they're more for flavor than drinking.

I hope they have Japanese Whisky, and if not I will probably spend part of my weekend tracking it down. I will consider my trip a failure if I cannot bring back at least one bottle of Japanese Whisky.

(New Zealand, France, or Austria would be a bonus. I'm just fascinated by what each region brings to the family of whisky.)

No, it's at the intersection with Sacramento Street, in San Francisco. 8;)

They do.

-- Larry

and

-- Larry

Oops. :)

I did visit them first today and they are quite informative. I picked up one of their bottlings, as well as a bourbon. I ended up spending more time at Cannery Wine and walked away with two bottles of Scotch, a bottle of Maraschino, the better bottle of Forty Creek, and a few mini bottles. I just did the math and I'm 100ml shy of the FAA limit so here's to hoping I can get these bottles home.

For posterity's sake, they are:

Pulteney 1990/2003 Signatory/D&M bottling Caol Ila 12 year Signatory non-chill filtered Ardmore 10 year Signatory non-chill filtered Black Maple Hill 14 year SB bourbon Forty Creek Three Grain Canadian Maraska Maraschino

They have one - a Yamazaki 12, and it's about ten dollars more than the exact same Yamazaki I saw at BevMo. I'm going to check out Japan Town (or is it Japantown?) later in the week, since the guy at D&M said that most Japanese Whisky is sold over there. I have nothing against Suntory, mind you, but I'd like to find a Yoichi. For me it would be like buying a Macallan 12 for your first bottle of scotch and then just buying another bottle of Macallan 12 rather than trying another Scotch.

One last little observation - because I went to my local liquor store before coming here, I really was shocked at the price differences between what I pay at home and what I get here. Many bottles here had a $10-20 premium versus what's at home. Granted the selections are larger here and in many places that I visit, but it's pretty much made sure that when I travel I probably won't buy anything I can get at home.

Oh, and my local shop (Surdyk's, since I'll probably refer to it in the future) has a bigger cordial selection than Cannery Wine. Very disappointed by that. The maraschino was the only thing I noticed that I can't get back home.

Funny I mentioned this. I wasn't over limit (I left two bottles with a coworker and he'll bring it to me in Minneapolis within a few weeks). However I just got through security with the closest call I've had yet. They spotted the whisky in the bag and screened it. The woman started taking bottles out of the bag and saying that the bottles can't go on the plane. I started getting a bit nervous saying that there aren't any bottles above 70%. She said that the limit was 70 PROOF and that all of these bottles of whisky were too high.

To put it midly I started freaking out a little. I tried to explain the difference between ABV and proof, but it wasn't really sinking in. Her manager didn't understand either, so she called the airport manager and talked with her. She explained it to her and after about 15 minutes of cold sweat I got the bag back and now I'm waiting for my plane.

So the only bottles that are staying behind are a bottle of Japanese Soju (I think. There wasn't much information about it) and the bottle of Canadian.

Oh, and I'm flying out early.. that's the discrepancy in the dates. I can hardly wait to try the ones I'm bringing home.

Brian,

Too bad, I scored a bottle of Yokaichi Mugi Shochu. It is an interesting underproof (25% abv) version of barley vodka. The low proof and barley origins make it a very interesting alternative to sake when enjoying Japanese cusine at home.

Kanpai, Bushido

That sounds a lot like what I left with my coworker. It was in a ceramic jar, aged three years, and had the 25% abv. I thought it might be an aged version of the Korean Soju, so I picked it up. Even if it ends up being horrid I'll have a really cool ceramic bottle.